Pretty much every great actor succumbs to it at some point: the straightforward biopic where they are the best thing in it. Kate Winslet plays photographer Lee Miller in Lee, which documents her rise to fame as she straddles the front lines of World War II.
Directed by Ellen Kuras, Lee is a nice-looking if conventional film that has the title character facing challenges such as editorial oversight, misogyny, horny soldiers, and Nazi bullets. Relatively fast paced and tightly told, Lee is a perfectly fine little film that simply needed it to be more than it actually is.
Winslet is pretty good here because of course she is, but the material doesn’t challenge her in the way you’d hope. She runs around doing all the things you’d want a protagonist to do—fighting for her career, saving women from rape, photographing war crimes—but it all feels a bit shallow. Overly heroic. There is a scene where she runs into her editor’s office and starts ripping up her own photos; it’s supposed to be emotional but comes off as forced. Even cheesy. There are other little moments like that too, reminders that Lee may depict Lee Miller but never truly digs into her essence.
Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.
